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Two men from Summerside hired to crew Bluenose II

Two young men from Summerside are going to spend the summer working aboard a Canadian icon.

Alex Lapp, 25, and Patrick Martin, 20, have been hired as deckhands on the Bluenose II.

To say they are excited about it would be a supreme understatement.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, and I could learn so much from it,” said Martin, who was still buzzing with excitement over the news 24 hours after he’d received it.

Both men are life-long sailors and recent graduates of Holland College’s Marine Training Centre in Summerside.

Lapp was hired earlier this month and is already working aboard the ship, which is berthed at home in Lunenburg, N.S., while Martin was just hired Wednesday and is scheduled to start this week.

Reached Thursday on a rare day off, Lapp said the experience has been incredible and surreal. He also said he was very sore – old-fashioned shipwork is not easy.

Both of them will be on the vessel until it ties up again in October. The Bluenose II will do a lot of sailing between now and then, as the ship is scheduled to make appearances in Quebec City and Boston in the coming months, as well as many smaller ports in between. It’s expected to be an especially busy year given the Canada 150 celebrations.

Martin said he was told to expect upwards of 80,000 visitors – so people skills will be almost as important as sailing skills.

He’s hoping to improve both, he said, but he’s especially looking forward to putting his practical sailing skills to use as the Bluenose II is equipped with minimal modern technology.

“It’s where it all started. You really learn what sailing is all about,” he said.

The original Bluenose was a Grand Banks fishing and racing schooner launched in 1921. She remained undefeated in 17 years of racing and became a legendary ship, dubbed the Queen of the North Atlantic.

The original Bluenose sank off Haiti in 1946, but a working replica, Bluenose II, was launched in 1963.

Many of the original builders returned to work on the new ship.

The ship was given as a gift to the government of Nova Scotia in 1971 and has been a provincial tourist attraction and sailing ambassador ever since.

COLIN MACLEAN/JOURNAL PIONEER Patrick Martin is heading to Lunenburg, N.S., to work as a deckhand on the Bluenose II for the next six months. Fellow Summerside resident Alex Lapp already started his position on the ship earlier this month.